After Yosef’s brothers threw him into a pit, it was all downhill from there. In fact, the Torah uses the language of descent as it tells both the continuation of that story (39:1–“When Joseph was taken down to Egypt”) and the narrative aside that interrupts his story (38:1–“Judah left his brothers,” or in Hebrew Vayered Continue Reading »
What makes you feel outrage? How much does it take? How closely touched must you be by the events before your emotional reaction rises to the level of outrage? When Ya’akov’s daughter Dinah is the victim of sexual assault, dad remains quiet, but the news can’t be kept from her brothers for long. “Meanwhile, Jacob’s Continue Reading »
For the 25+ years that I have been reading Torah weekly, I have put myself on autopilot when I read the story of Ya’akov’s creative manipulation of sheep so he can get the best of Uncle Lavan. In truth, I’ve never really understood how he pulled it off. But after seeing this extraordinary story this week, it’s Continue Reading »
It’s a famous scene: One twin brother, Esav, has just come back from the hunt, and finds his former womb-mate, Ya’akov, cooking a pot of lentil stew. What happens next is going to cause reverberations between their descendants for years to come. Esav paints himself into a corner of deep vulnerability: “Give me some Continue Reading »
As he nears the end of his life, Avraham begins to tie up loose ends. As the late Bible scholar Nahum Sarna wrote: “For all intents and purposes, his biography is complete. But two important issues remain: the concern with mortality and the preoccupation with posterity” (JPS Bible Commentary, Genesis, p. 156). From the events Continue Reading »
Every time we read the story of the Akedah, the binding of Yitzhak, more questions emerge. Two questions are of particular interest to me this year. The first concerns Avraham. When God informs him of the plan to destroy Sodom, Avraham challenges God: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth act justly?” (Genesis 18:25) Continue Reading »
Last week, after Noah emerged from the ark, God made a brit, a covenant, with him and all humanity. God’s promise, in the form of a rainbow, was to never again flood the earth so thoroughly. What was our end of the bargain? We were now permitted to consume the flesh of animals, perhaps as Continue Reading »
When game seven of the World Series was delayed by rain on Wednesday evening, didn’t you begin to wonder if the rain might last 40 days and nights? It was almost like the umpires went searching for two of every animal in anticipation of a serious deluge. Actually, that’s based on the part of the Continue Reading »
It’s one of the most challenging passages theologically in all of Torah, and it comes in the very first chapter. God has been extraordinarily productive for five-plus days, creating this and that and the next. Then, God has an idea. Instead of saying “Let there be…,” God says “Let’s.” The plan is to make a Continue Reading »
We’re rolling through Sukkot, known as zeman simhateinu, the time of our rejoicing, when we suddenly get hit with this splash of cold water in our festive faces. There’s no more moody Biblical text than Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes. In both the opening and closing chapters, the author asserts: “Havel havalim…hakol havel–Utter futility…all is futile!” As we prepare Continue Reading »
